3 Ways Carriers Should Blend Automation and the Human Touch

By 2030, more than half of all claims activity will be performed by automation, according to a projection by McKinsey & Company. Evolving with technology requires combining automated functions and the human touch in a way that lets carriers deliver exemplary and consistent service. Artificial intelligence (AI) may take on more tedious tasks, freeing insurance professionals to focus on developing personalized relationships that policyholders still demand. Here are a few best practices that combine AI and human services into your claims process.

Automation removes the risk of human error from a lot of insurance and assessment tasks, but it can’t deliver the personal touch some claims need.

Maintain Focus on Client Experience

A study by IBM determined that 84% of carriers looking to AI cited customer satisfaction as their primary motivator for doing so. Automation gives your business model flexibility to provide personalized service. Another recent study shows that 95% of policyholders who file a claim want frequent updates, but a combination of automated and personal methods can help you match the communication to each customer’s preferences. Many carriers use client portals or other sites that allow their policyholders to customize their claims experience.

Your customer service team is key to a personalized client experience. They’re often the first and last touches on a claim. By automating your administrative processes, you free them up to provide top-shelf service, answer questions, or simply reassure policyholders that they’re in good hands during what may be a stressful time.

For our clients, Alpine Intel’s automated system ensures that each assignment is confirmed immediately upon submission. After that, scheduling software searches our nationwide network of experts and pairs each assignment with the best available professional based on experience, skillset, and geographical location. For example, a texted survey allows us to collect claim, property, and inspection availability information on forensic assignments and offer an appointment for quick, seamless scheduling.

However, some losses require more than one expert, have an adjuster or policyholder who prefers a personal phone call, or involve other exceptions that make them too complicated for automated responses. In these cases, a team member is ready to step in and apply their experience to deliver the best outcome.

While automated processes may reduce errors when scheduling inspections, updating adjusters, and communicating with policyholders, human interactions are essential to both customer experience and flexibility.

Communication options that blend automation with human interactions can respond to your preferences and those of your policyholders.

Understand Assessment Outcomes – and Make Sure Your Policyholder Does, Too

Property assessment reports are not helpful to your claim without actionable data that both you and your policyholders can understand. While the conclusions you base your settlement decision on may revolve around complicated principles, there are a few ways automation can supplement administrative and repetitive tasks for human experts who are gathering, analyzing, and interpreting evidence to deliver conclusions in plain language.

You don’t have to become an expert to understand what the experts are telling you, or even to see what they see onsite. You can make the most of software like 3D interactive scans, which allow adjusters to see what the investigator sees and preserve the scene long after restoration efforts have been completed. However, in most cases a professional is still required to analyze the property whether that is in person or virtually by using a digital scan. Many tools also exist for your partners to deliver clear, well-organized reports, giving the writer time to focus on the details of each individual assessment.

If you have questions, however, partnering with assessment vendors who have the experience needed to answer them is a crucial part of your claims process. Alpine Intel automates the tasks to improve speed, customer experiences, and support experts to be more effective in doing what truly makes them an expert: leveraging years – sometimes decades – of experience and training in the field. Human expertise and automation allow us to give our clients clear, scientific conclusions to make a settlement decision without adding unnecessary time to the life of the claim.

Keep Things Moving Forward

For both you and your policyholder, time may be the most important element in a claim. Automation is a great tool for reducing wait times, increasing employee productivity, and taking labor-intensive, low-value tasks off adjusters’ plates. Essentially, the argument for more automation is fueled by a desire to keep everything moving toward a faster, yet still accurate, settlement decision.

Judicious use of automation allows insurance professionals to pass routine work to AI while focusing on customer relationships and more complicated tasks.

AI can often address the desire of policyholders for an almost instantaneous response, while a human representative can address more complex or emotionally delicate issues, which often appear in property insurance claims. In these instances, the human touch may be a time saver in and of itself; policyholders with pressing questions don’t want to spend time combing a website or explaining a unique situation to a chatbot when an experienced professional can give them the answers they need quickly, compassionately, and clearly.

As well as the cycle time of a claim, your personal time is important, and Alpine Intel’s customer service model is set up to help you optimize it. If you or your policyholder call during a high-volume time, our phone systems include a virtual hold feature, allowing you to hold your place in line without waiting on the phone. Callers merely type in their phone number, hang up, and resume more important tasks, knowing Alpine Intel’s representative will call when they’re next in line.

As the use of AI becomes more prevalent in the insurance industry, carriers must strive to balance the efficiency of automation with the value of personal expertise. To experience how Alpine Intel’s suite of services employs AI alongside highly qualified personnel to answer your property questions, submit an assignment

Be sure to also tune in to The Savvy Adjuster Podcast to hear more from the experts themselves.

Alpine Intel’s content is meant to inform and educate readers using general terms and descriptions. They do not replace expert evaluations that determine facts and details related to each unique claim.